Wading through the sea of Print-on-Demand titles, one overpriced paperback at a time--and giving you the buried treasure.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Walking in my shoes (the 2005 stats!)

When I said it has been a long journey to the Needles, I was not kidding. I kept a running list of statistics from the beginning (for some things) at the advice of one of my POD sisters-in-crime. I'd find a good book and she'd always say, "Yeah, but how many crappy books did you have to read to find it?"

So I started keeping track.

Below you will find the hard truths of this past year. You will know about everything that happened in order to bring you a mere 50 titles worth reading.

And it's been a blast. I have met some great folks and read some great books and made some super friends. I can only hope it was as worth it for you and is was for me.

Read 'em and weep:

Total number of queries received: 5,959Total number of books considered: 1,398Total number books read to completion but did not get reviewed (the ones that came "this close"): 43

Total number of books submitted to me via email: 927Total number of books submitted the first week of the blog: 6Total number of books submitted last week: 81

Total number of books not read past first page: 132Total number of books not read past first paragraph: 12Total number of books not read past first sentence: 2

Total number of books I read past 3:00 a.m because I simply could not stop: 2

Total number of books (print) that fell apart before I finished them: 2

Total number of book covers that had me laughing hysterically: 14Total number of book covers that had me laughing so hard I nearly peed myself: 2

Total number of times my editor told me I was wasting my time: 7Total number of times my agent told me I was wasting my time: 1

Total number of times I was harassed for not reviewing a submitted novel: 4Most times a single author submitted a single book: 14

Total number of POD books (that I had purchased) donated to local libraries: 78Total number of POD books (that I had purchased) rejected from local libraries: 227

Total dollar amount spent on this venture: $0.00 (I do not count books purchased since I own them.)Total dollar amount made on this venture: $0.00

Total number of emails received (non-spam) to girlondemand@yahoo.com: 63,345Total number of gigabytes worth of data I received in PDF files: @ 3.1 GB

Based on a search, number of emails with "murder" in the text: 227 "sex": 132 "thriller": 119 "literary": 5Number of people who, while on my book tour, asked me if I was POD-dy Mouth: 0Number of people who, while on my book tour, asked me if I knew where the book store bathroom was: 7

Total number of authors who submitted a nude or semi-nude picture of themselves along with their manuscript PDF: 4 (3 men and 1 woman--at least, I think it was a woman)Total number of agents (so far) who requested to see the Needle awards data: 18 Total number of editors who requested to see the Needle awards data: 15

And the most painful statistic of all: Total number of offers to buy my book if I surrendered my identity: 677.Total number of regrets I have for starting this project: 0

Who I am . . .

About Me

I am an author and instructor, in that order (for now.) My debut novel (which debuted in the midlist) was released by Penguin Putnam in 2004 and my second novel was released early 2006.
As for this blog, it has been profiled in many online magazines, blogs and news stories, including the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, the Boston Globe, the Dallas Morning News, the LA Times and Publishers Lunch.

Why am I doing this . . .

The 2006 Needles . . .

The 2005 Needles . . .

Attention POD authors . . .

Attention publicists . . .

To answer the deluge of questions I have been receiving from publicists: I'll review pretty much anything that is good--but it better be good, or I'll never look at another one of your books again. Then I'll hunt you down. Fiction preferred (no fantasy or young adult, go easy on the science fiction.) Non-fiction should be memoir, humor, self-help. Definite no-nos: cookbooks, textbooks, porn, books without verbs. And it must be POD (no small presses.) Otherwise, email with pitch first.